Marseille, France
Tue, Dec 4th 2007, 00:00
The French city of Marseille (originally Massalia) was founded by the Greeks in 600BC.
Massalia thrived as a Mediterranean trading port for the Greeks and later for the Romans, a link to the interior of Gaul hungry for Roman goods, especially wine.
The people of Marseille are fiercely independent. Their’s was the first settlement given city status in France in 1437, and Marseille is still the second-largest city of France.
The local population enthusiastically embraced the French Revolution; 500 volunteers from Marseille marched into Paris in 1792, singing what is now the French national anthem: La Marseillaise.
Bombed and occupied during WWII, much of the city was rebuilt during the 1950s.
Marseille, France reviews
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